


Nowhere Is Home Unless We're Both In the Same Place

by Velocity_Owl87



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Implied Relationships, Introspection, Missing Scene, People Change People, Plans For The Future, Reconciliation, Understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 17:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12658338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocity_Owl87/pseuds/Velocity_Owl87
Summary: After the dust has settled, Thor realizes the implications of Kingship and Asgard's future mean for him as the new King of Asgard.Thankfully, he doesn't have to grapple with the situation alone, at least.





	Nowhere Is Home Unless We're Both In the Same Place

**Author's Note:**

> This was a scene that popped into my head after watching Thor: Ragnarok, since the population of Asgard would be refugees looking for a place to build a home. Thor, despite all of the jokes, seems like he would be thinking about this issue after the adrenaline has gone and would need someone to bounce ideas off of.  
> Enter Loki, who also has grown a whole lot and is able to sit and actually talk and listen to Thor while Thor does the same.  
> Title is from "Parachute" proofed, but if mistakes appear they will be fixed later.

It’s only in the middle of the night, when he’s sure that the ship is more or less asleep and Heimdall is watching the worlds for any threat to the refugees that it finally sinks in.

Thor is finally the king of Asgard. He is responsible for the remnants of a once glorious world and once glorious civilizations.

They have no home now. They are at the mercy of whoever will offer them shelter and a much more permanent home to rebuild and start again.

They are refugees and all of their fates and their lives rest squarely on his shoulders.

It is then that the adrenaline wears off and he collapses hard onto the bed in the quarters that he had claimed as his own.

He’s the king and despite knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that this was what he was raised for...He flounders.

Despite knowing that Asgard would eventually end, Thor hadn’t ever suspected that he’d be watching that end happen from a ship travelling in space. Nor had he ever thought that his father and mother wouldn’t be beside him alongside Loki.

Nor has he ever guessed that he has a sister that would be the author of it all ending.

He rubs at the empty socket where his eye had been and sighs heavily. Yet another thing that he hadn’t ever seen happening and he has to sourly wonder if it had also been part of his wyrd to lose an eye.

He admires his father, but it didn’t mean he wanted to lose an eye the same as him.

He huffs out a bit of amused, dry laughter at that thought and goes to the window.

Thor stares out at the vast expanse of space and tries to not plan too far ahead. He knows all too well the folly of looking too far into the future. The immediate plans he has already worked out: Resettlement on Midgard. A permanent home. Brokering deals and treaties.

The rest left him floundering and unsure of where to go.

His closest companions were dead. Heimdall broke the news quietly before he had slipped away and Thor pushes it away. He will grieve them later. When the dust settles and he can be sure that he isn’t building anything on a foundation of sand. Then he will mourn.

Right now, he has to be strong for all of them. He can’t break, despite being as lost they are.

At least they have each other. Despite being adrift and cast away from all they have known, they can cling to each other. He stands alone.

“What keeps you awake? Everyone else is asleep. You should be too.”

He doesn’t startle when he hears Loki’s voice, having felt him at the edge of his consciousness. Like a faint electric sweep nudging at the edges of his mind. It had been there before, he realised once they had fought their way out of Hela. Yet he hadn’t paid attention to what it was until now.

He turns to look at Loki, who is pretending to be nonchalantly looking out at space, but the too stiff set of his shoulders and the small muscle twitching in his jaw gives him away. He doesn’t say anything then. He has learned to handle this less sharp, but still abrasive and delicately prickly version of his brother. So he stands and waits for Loki to open the conversation.

“A tired king is a useless king, brother. Especially in these times.”

Thor smiles at that simple pronouncement, so far removed from all the silvered words he’s heard come from his brother throughout the years.

“I can’t sleep. Not yet.”

Thor admits to Loki, who only presses his lips together at that admission. He nods to himself and turns to look, really look at his brother.

“This isn’t some kind of self-flagellation, or martyrdom, is it? Because I can tell you I never saw you as the type.”

Loki comments lightly, making Thor laugh.

“Nothing of the sort, I can definitely assure you. The adrenaline has worn off. Everyone is asleep and we’re heading to Midgard in circumstances that I never would have imagined happening.”

He sighs and scrubs a rough hand over his burning eyes and dirty face. There are remnants of the paint he had slathered on earlier and he frowns at the sight of that faded pigment.

“It would be hard to come back as a supplicant when you’ve always arrived as a conquering hero. I get it.”

Loki murmurs, coming closer to Thor and wiping away the pigment and dirt from his face, his hands hovering over Thor’s face. Close enough to touch, yet far enough to pull them back quickly if he needs to. It’s still too new, this tentative truce that they have between them and Loki does not want to break it.

He doesn’t want to walk away from Thor anymore. He’s done pushing him away and seething in frustration when Thor didn’t understand where he was coming from. Thor has seen through all of the illusions and unspoken words and doesn’t expect anything else from him but to me more than he was.

Just like Loki himself had expected of Thor when they had started this war of attrition that has finally been put to rest.

Thor looks at him and smiles as he tiredly reaches out and takes Loki’s hands with gentleness he hasn’t shown Loki in ages.

He shouldn’t have been surprised. The embrace they had shared had been one that he had missed. Even now, he could still conjure up the warmth and the safety he felt at being surrounded by his brother. Yet he still was, with how Thor reverently holding his hands and something dark glimmering in his remaining eye.

It hurts to see the golden patch hiding the wound. It makes Thor look far too grave and far too old for his years. It magnifies the burden he now carries and it makes something twinge in Loki’s chest.

He had felt it, despite being an exile in his own life: The loss of a permanent home.

Despite all that Asgard encapsulated, it was still _home._

And now that was gone.

“We haven’t a home any longer.”

Loki murmurs as Thor lets go of his hands. He doesn’t pull away and instead moves closer to him, wanting both comfort and warmth. Thor complies, letting him get closer as they again turn to look out at space unfurling in front of them.

“Father said Asgard wasn’t a place, but its people.”

Loki tilts his head as they both stare ahead.

“It’s true. But it doesn’t erase the fact that it was once somewhere we could return to. Somewhere we could always return to. And now, only the memory of that remains between those that lived there.”

Thor sighed and looks at Loki.

“It still doesn’t negate the fact that it hurts, not having a home.”

Loki nods. It’s a jerky gesture and it reminds Thor of the time in the elevator before they left Sakarr. Loki thought he hadn’t seen the way that his expression had fallen at the thought of not being beside Thor and going his way. The same expression was on his face again and it makes Thor even sadder than before.

“And to beg for shelter in Midgard. Well, I guess it only makes sense. Father and Hela destroyed empires. It is only right that we would be refugees and rebuild what they destroyed.”

Loki’s eyes widen and Thor smiles at him. It’s not the smile that he gives everyone else, but the one that only Loki was privileged in seeing. His breath catches as he realises exactly how long it has been since he’s seen it.

“Despite everything? Are you sure, Thor?”

Thor nods and Loki feels the last of the coldness in his heart thaw.

He holds out his hand to Thor.

“I can be much more.”

Thor nods as he takes Loki’s hand.

“I know.”

Loki smiles back and pulls Thor towards the bed.

“Then come with me and sleep.”

Thor laughed quietly, but followed suit.

Loki was right. They both needed sleep.

Tomorrow would come soon enough with its own woes.

But for now, they would have this before they would rebuild again.

END.

 


End file.
